To get WP up and running you have to prepare several things. This guide is based on a Dokku installation on a DigitalOcean Dropplet; for me the most convenient way to get a Dokku platform running.

To make sure everything is on place, you should prepare your dokku environment.

1. Add your app Create a app with the dokku apps:create where appname is the sub domain of your dokku server.

2. Add a Database I’ll use the official mariadb plugin for firing up a mysql database.

First add a new database by executing the following command dokku mariadb:create .

Choose whatever you want for the databasename.

After firing the command, you should see a output like this:

dokku@myserver:~# dokku mariadb:create my_wp_database
-----> Starting container
   Waiting for container to be ready
=====> MariaDB container created: my_wp_database
   DSN: mysql://mariadb:2995cee44058d534@dokku-mariadb-my-wp-database:3306/my_wp_database

Please note the line DSN: mysql://mariadb:2995cee44058d534@dokku-mariadb-my-wp-database:3306/my_wp_database we will need this information later to configure the WordPress database! Now connect your database to your app. This step makes sure your app has access to the db.

dokku mariadb:link my_wp_database yourappname

Now we have to set some environment variables and docker options to make sure that WordPress is able to connect to the database, to crypt some cookies and to persist your data (uploads, themes, plugins). This is a very important step to make sure your data will be in place even after a restart of the container or the server.

First start with the database configuration. You remember the DSN you got after you created the Database?

DSN: mysql://mariadb:2995cee44058d534@dokku-mariadb-my-wp-database:3306/my_wp_database

Lets split the string into some useable variables and set these for the app. Please execute the following commands (keep in mind that your appname and database credentials are different, so make sure you replace them):

dokku config:set yourappname DB_HOST=dokku-mariadb-my-wp-database
dokku config:set yourappname DB_NAME=my_wp_database
dokku config:set yourappname DB_PASSWORD=2995cee44058d534
dokku config:set yourappname DB_USER=mariadb

Next are the salt values for several security features of WordPress

dokku config:set yourappname AUTH_KEY=whatyouwant
dokku config:set yourappname AUTH_SALT=whatyouwant
dokku config:set yourappname LOGGED_IN_KEY=whatyouwant
dokku config:set yourappname LOGGED_IN_SALT=whatyouwant
dokku config:set yourappname NONCE_KEY=whatyouwant
dokku config:set yourappname NONCE_SALT=whatyouwant
dokku config:set yourappname SECURE_AUTH_KEY=whatyouwant
dokku config:set yourappname SECURE_AUTH_SALT=whatyouwant

Do a dokku config. This gives you a list of all environment variables set for your app

dokku@myserver:~# dokku config yourappname
=====> yourappname config vars
AUTH_KEY:         whatyouwant
AUTH_SALT:        whatyouwant
DATABASE_URL:     mysql://mariadb:2995cee44058d534@dokku-mariadb-my-wp-database:3306/my_wp_database
DB_HOST:          dokku-mariadb-my-wp-database
DB_NAME:          my_wp_database
DB_PASSWORD:      2995cee44058d534
DB_USER:          mariadb
LOGGED_IN_KEY:    whatyouwant
LOGGED_IN_SALT:   whatyouwant
NONCE_KEY:        whatyouwant
NONCE_SALT:       whatyouwant
SECURE_AUTH_KEY:  whatyouwant
SECURE_AUTH_SALT: whatyouwant

Everything in place? Then move on

This Step is very important to preserve uploads and downloaded themes and plugins. If you miss these steps, your files will we gone after a restart of the container. Just create a directory on your dokku host. For my example, i created the directory /opt/wordpress/.

dokku docker-options:add yourappname deploy,run "-v /opt/wordpress:/app/wp-content"

Thats all, the environment is prepared now. Let’s configure and deploy WordPress 🙂

Just clone this repository on your local machine.

git clone https://github.com/imana97/wordpress-dokku.git

Now we have to add your dokku server as a git remote (remember to change the dokku server and hostname)

git remote add dokku [email protected]:myhostname

And now, DEPLOY

git push dokku master